Food subscription boxes have become enormously popular thanks to COVID-19 and the need to social distance. They offer the chance to cook at home, to create delicious meals even if you have no skills in the kitchen, and to enjoy balanced nutrition without having to create menus yourself.

However, there are so many companies offering food subscription boxes, which is simply what they call meal kits in Canada, that it can be confusing to choose between them, particularly if you’re looking for the most frugal choice. Which is right for the budget-conscious consumer? How do you tell?

First, Know Yourself

It does little good to choose the most frugal food subscription box if you don’t know what it is that you want. Today, you’ll find multiple companies offering different boxes with at least some degree of customisation, but how should you tailor things to your own tastes? Think about and answer the following questions before you start comparing the options:

• Do you prefer meat-heavy boxes?
• Do you want grass-fed beef?
• Do you have a preference for locally-sourced foods?
• Do you want vegetarian meal choices?
• Do you want to go completely vegan?
• Do you prefer organic foods to conventionally grown options?
• Do you prefer pasta to other options?
• Do you care about the packaging your food ships in?
• Do you need to eat gluten-free?
• Do you care about ethically and/or sustainably-sourced foods?
• Do you want your meals health-focused or simply to taste great?
• Do you value “extras”, like donating meals to the hungry?

It might seem like a tall order, but each of those is a possibility. However, understand that some choices will impact the cost of your food subscription boxes substantially. For instance, organic food always costs more than conventionally-grown foods. Gluten-free meals will likely cost more, as will sustainably-sourced ingredients.

Your Family Size

Most food subscription companies allow you to tailor the size of your box to the number of people you’ll be feeding. In most cases, you can order food for one, two, three, or four people. Some companies can accommodate families as large as five people, but many stop at four. In that case, you might need to purchase a second box, which can dramatically increase the costs of your subscription. So, if you have a larger family, food subscription boxes might not be the most frugal choice.

Your Preferred Frequency

How many meals do you want to get each week? Most companies don’t offer boxes to feed the family for the whole week. Instead, you can choose your frequency, up to perhaps three meals per week, although that varies greatly from company to company. Obviously, the more recipes you want to try, the more expensive your subscription will be.

Not Just Meals

Finally, do you want entire meals, or would you prefer something a little smaller – say a box of snacks and treats? Some options specialise in providing just that, leaving you to create meals on your own, while providing you with delicious, nutritious snacks based on your specified flavour profile.

Complete or Incomplete?

Some companies (SimplyCook, notably) provide you with most of the ingredients for each meal but do not send you everything. This keeps the costs down and offers flexibility so that you can tailor things to your liking or try new things. However, it does add complications and still means a trip to the grocer.

The Food Subscription Companies

With all of that out of the way, we can now turn our eyes toward the actual food subscription boxes out there. We’ve noted some of the more popular companies below, as well as the average cost per meal (NOT per box) at the time of this writing (note that prices are subject to change).

• HelloFresh – £5 per meal
• Mindful Chef – £7 per meal
• SimplyCook – £2.25 per meal (not all ingredients included)
• Allplants – £5 per meal
• Abel & Cole – £6.50 per meal
• Riverford – £13 per meal

As you can see, there are some very affordable options out there. SimplyCook is probably the most frugal in a head-to-head comparison, but remember that the company doesn’t supply everything you need to make the recipe, so you’ll spend more. HelloFresh, Allplants, and Abel & Cole lead the pack in terms of real affordability. They’re also recognised for the quality of their foods, the ease of customising your boxes and flavour preferences, and even locally-sourcing their foods.